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Tuesday, August 12, 2014

The Great Boat Depression

You know those days where it feels like nothing goes right?That kinda feels like our life for the past few months. All the negativity is not really something that made me want to run straight to the computer and share with world. So here’s the summary of what we've been up to!Our battery charger (shore-to-ship) decided it was time for a party and turned on the smoke machine and brought in the sparklers and fire dancers. We thought this could possibly be caused by the isolation transformer (which the electrical surveyor “couldn’t” “even” “find” during the survey - which we weren’t present for) so we had to get that checked out. We had decided that replacing the charger and installing an inverter (allowing us to run small AC appliances on board) were wants, not needs and we could live without them for the time being. But Bryce got bronchitis and as an asthmatic was needing to use a nebulizer as many as five times a days (despite not having needed it for years), so the inverter got upgraded to a need. During the installation, some of the battery leads were left unsecured and when Bryce went to put the lid back on the batteries after the electrician left for the day, the leads crossed and shorted the fridge. The fridge was pronounced dead and so we *got to* get a new one. While we were having the inverter and charger installed, we also had a leak meter put in. This basically tells us if there is any stray electrical current and wouldn’t you know when we turned it on, the lights lit up red indicating a nice negative leak. Turns out as far as leaks go that a negative leak is better than a positive leak and we have lots of sacrificial anodes doing their job to combat the electrolysis. We have made some effort to find the leak but due to the *GIGANTIC* mess that is the electrical system on board we ran out of options quickly.

This is another issue that should have been discovered during our survey, as we specifically requested that he check that it was an isolated DC system, which turns out it’s not. So yeah… we are facing a complete rewire sometime soon. Then we finally left the dock, turned on the wind generator only to find that it isn’t working… hopefully just in need of a service, but without it we are running a bit low on electricity and our new fridge, as the biggest draw, is suffering the most. And of course when we actually went to buy a nebulizer (we had been borrowing one), we were able to get a wonderfully small, battery-operated one. Who would’ve thought? Certainly not us (but then we didn’t even need to go ahead with all the electrical stuff… grrr).It’s times like these when *EVERYTHING* is going wrong that we are at the most risk of falling into, as we like to call it, The Great Boat Depression. And it starts: Why did we buy this boat? Are we complete idiots? I think we bought the worst, most broken boat in the world. Seriously we must be idiots. Do we just attract people who don’t know what they are doing? We are so stupid, we know nothing. What a stupid dream is it to buy a boat and sail around the world? What kind of crazy to you have to be to want to put yourself through this? Everything we touch breaks…. The list continues! We both keep diligent watch for if the other is falling down this black hole and try to reverse the cycle as quickly as possible. Now, we know that we are not idiots and we aren’t stupid, however when the doubt and problems come in, it’s very easy to blame ourselves. What is also oddly reassuring is knowing that if we, where we are today, knowing what we know today, were to be in the same situation we were a year and half ago when buying this boat, that we would be able to approach the situation and the boat a lot more confidently. Most of the time, we do not regret buying Batty, even with all the hard work. Sure she may be a pain in the butt, but she has taught us so much. Some day we will get there…We have had some small wins, which we do celebrate. For instance, we ripped out our old toileting system and installed our new composting head all by ourselves. This was our first foray into the electrical world and we didn’t kill ourselves (admittedly almost impossible to do on a DC system, but as I said, we celebrate our wins!). Another time when filling our fresh water tanks, when they were full, water started to leak out of the manual hand pump we have in the galley and the foot pump in the head. This blew our minds and made us think we has a ginormous problem as we had always assumed that the foot pump in the head was salt water, but no. We just found out that we actually have a fresh water foot pump in the head! Win! So we are close to leaving…. and when I say leaving I mean heading north. Our goal last year had been to head up to the Whitsundays and we were really disappointed when it got too late in the season. So that’s our only goal, leave and head north. We will probably head back down this way towards the end of the season, perhaps on our way to New Zealand. We have no plans. We just need to leave, get out of our comfort zone and sail off into the sunset!

6 comments:

What a time you've both had! And now, you're so boat smart ! It's all worth it when you look at that last picture. Most of us just dream about that image and you have it on your doorstep. All the best!

Wherever you go in life, there will always be good days and bad days. Try not to get too discouraged...you have friends all over the world who can only dream of doing what you guys are doing! You inspire us with your stories and pictures. Keep up the good work!

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Hi, I'm Alissa. Many years ago, I met Bryce, who had dreamed about buying a boat and sailing around the world since he was a kid. It became my dream as well and now it's our reality. Along with our daughter, we are sailing the high seas of Australia (for now!). This blog is a collection of stories, photos and ideas inspired by our lives and travels. We hope you enjoy following our adventures!

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